Two Best Buy Directors Resign, One Joins Lampert’s ESL

Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY)’s board of directors now has two new openings according to the company’s latest filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. George Mikan III resigned effective Dec. 26 to become the president of ESL Investments Inc., Edward Lampert’s hedge fund. The other director who resigned was Matthew Paull, although he will remain on the board through the first-quarter board meeting, which will be held in April.

Mikan started his new post on Monday, and the firm said he would report directly to Lampert himself. He served as interim CEO at Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) between April and September.

The statement from Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) said Paull has resigned because company guidelines state that directors must retire five years after they stopped pursuing the main career they were pursuing when appointed to the company’s board. In 2008 Paull retired as an executive for McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD).

The statement also said that neither Paull nor Mikan were resigning because they disagreed with anything the company’s board of directors was doing. Paull has served on the board for Best Buy since 2003, while Mikan has served since 2008. Their departures leave the company with a total of four openings on its 11-member board.

Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY)’s founder Richard Schulze is still working on buying out his company after he was ousted from the company in 2012. He was expected to make a final offer to buy the company in December, but that deadline was extended until early this year so that Schulze could see the company’s next earnings report before making an offer.